


This Isn’t The Worse Thing You’ve Seen Me Do

by Hale13



Series: Whump Bingo 2020 [5]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Caffeine Addiction, Human Disaster Peter Parker, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Mess, Sleep Deprivation, Slice of Life, Whump, Whump Bingo, Whumptober
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26768011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hale13/pseuds/Hale13
Summary: Peter just wants to make an ‘A’ on his APUSH exam and decrypt the USB he stole from the Manfredi Mob.  So what if he guzzles energy drinks to do it.A slice of life.(For Bingo space B5 - Chugging caffeine to try and fight the inevitable crash)
Series: Whump Bingo 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1943986
Comments: 4
Kudos: 72





	This Isn’t The Worse Thing You’ve Seen Me Do

**Author's Note:**

> Broke my Panic! title streak with this one and cranked it out in about two hours or less. So far this has been my favorite one to write, I enjoy happy little slice of life fics before our hearts get ripped out.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Uh, Peter?”

“Yeah Ned?” Peter responded, on edge and not looking up from his computer. He wasn’t the best at hacking and coding but he was getting better.

“Do you think you might want to cool it with the Red Bulls?” His friend asked warily from where he sat in front of his own (much more impressive) 3 screen set up, Karen’s code in a small text box in the corner, allowing her access to his system as they ran through the data Peter had downloaded onto a USB when he busted on of the Manfredi Mob’s hideouts. “How many have you even had?”

“Uh I don’t know? Like twelve?” Peter answered absently. The files they were trying to open were at least triple encrypted and, even with Karen’s help, were a bitch to open. Peter had been at it since he had gotten home early Saturday morning after patrol and hadn’t been able to make much headway, so he had gone over to Ned’s with a couple pizzas as a bribe, his beat-up old Dell and a couple packs of Red Bull, ready to make a night of it.

“Right,” Ned said, sitting back to take in the state of his room and the manic look on his best friend’s face. “Don’t you think that might be unhealthy?”

“I have an enhanced metabolism,” Peter told him pointedly.

“Dude.”

“Let’s be honest Ned,” Peter said as he finished chugging the last of a can, “this isn’t the worse thing you’ve seen me do.”

“You know I bet Mr. Stark coul-”

“I know, Ned,” Peter said irritatedly, running fingers through his greasy and erratic curls. “I’m sure FRIDAY could crack this in less than an hour but I don’t need Mr. Stark’s help to do my job.”

“I’m not saying you do,” Ned quickly back tracked, raising his hands in surrender. “But, dude, you’re only like fifteen and this isn’t your job. You turned down being an Avenger remember? I’m just saying that maybe Mr. Stark could crack the files and maybe point you in the right direction.”

“He won’t,” Peter said frustrated, pushing his computer away from him in disgust. “Remember what happened with Liz’s dad? I told him about it and he wouldn’t let me _help_ ,” Peter plonked his head down on the table. “And, besides, I turned down the Avengers so that I could protect my neighborhood and the Manfredi Mob is a neighborhood problem.”

“You and I both know the Manfredi Mob has ties to most of the major cities in the US which makes this a multi-state problem at the very least,” Ned told him point blank, turning fully away from the algorithms running on his own computer. “Look, if you won’t let Mr. Stark help will you at least go home and get some sleep? You know we have that history test tomorrow.”

Peter looked at his friend blankly. His APUSH class had a test worth twenty-five percent of their final average on the twenty-second but Ned must have his days mixed up. Surely… “What’s the date?” Peter asked meekly, dread pooling in his stomach.

“Peter,” Ned said in horror, “please, please, _please_ tell me you didn’t forget. You know this test is worth-”

“Twenty-Five percent of our final grade?” Peter asked hoarsely. “Yeah I know.”

“Have you studied at all?” Ned asked incredulously.

“Of course,” Peter said, indignant. “I went to a couple of the study groups and I’ve been reviewing my flash cards.”

“Great! Then what’s the problem?”

“I just… I really wanted an ‘A’ you know?” Peter said forlornly. Since the school year started and he added being Spider-Man into his already busy school schedule his grades had suffered some. He was still an excellent student, but he had really wanted to bring his grades up to straight A’s before the end of the semester and, to do that in APUSH, he would need a solid ‘A’ on this test and he would need to ace the final. With the studying he had done, Peter was pretty confident he would pass and probably get at least a ‘B’ but he really wanted to prove to himself and Aunt May that being Spider-Man didn’t effect his grades.

“Oh,” Ned said, face falling again. “My flash cards are legendary you know, want to borrow them? You can go through them tonight and then in the morning and it might help.”

“You’d let me borrow them? Don’t you need to study?”

“Nah,” Ned told him. “I’ve gone through them so many times I’ve got it all memorized anyway. I just need to look through the list of possible essay questions one more time to make sure that I’m prepared.”

“You’re a life-saver, Ned,” Peter told his guy-in-the-chair, initiating their secret handshake. “If I pull an all-nighter I can get these memorized and go through the review packet a couple more times and then I should be golden.”

“Have you considered sleeping?” Ned asked as he handed over the rubber-banded stack of multi-colored note cards to Peter.

“Can’t, gotta study,” Peter said as he crammed his laptop and miscellaneous tech paraphernalia into his bag before carefully tucking the note cards in the front pocket with the encrypted USB with all of the mob’s info. He pulled out the Spidey suit from where he had stowed it under Ned’s bed and quickly shimmied into it, pulling the mask over his face before hitting the spider icon to tighten it. “See you in class tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Good luck studying!”

Peter leaped out of Ned’s window to start his quick swing home, stopping briefly at one of the bodega to buy a couple more packs of some off brand energy drink that was on sale from the star-struck college kid behind the counter, cramming both packs into his already over-full back pack.

When he arrived back home, he sighed and let his bag slump off of his shoulders and onto the floor. It was only a little after ten and May wasn’t due to be home from her graveyard shift at the hospital until eight the following morning, well after he left for school. With that in mind, Peter stripped off the suit and the clothes he wore underneath and decided to take a quick shower before his study session.

The hot water felt heavenly on the sore muscles of his shoulders that never really healed from all of the swinging he did around the city and he soon felt himself relaxing into the wall of the shower and starting to nod off.

Well that wouldn’t do.

With a groan of self-pity, Peter flipped to tap to cold water and quickly soaped up his hair and body, shaving through the rest of his quick shower. Chilled, he chose to dress in some joggers and one of Ben’s old hoodies. If worse came to worse, he could wear both to school tomorrow.

With that done, he grabbed his study materials and the energy drinks and set up at the kitchen table, determined to stay awake all night and study.

* * *

The shrill beeping from Peter’s phone woke him up at six-thirty the following morning and he groaned, moving his face out of the puddle of drool that had accumulated on the table under him. The kitchen table was covered in empty cans and Peter still had one gripped in his hand, stuck to his fingers. With some effort, he sat up and drained the remainder of the can before unsticking it and dropping it onto the table to join the others.

Peter clearly remembered the old grandfather clock in the living room striking four so he must have fallen asleep after that. He yawned as he meandered around the kitchen, cleaning up the empty drink cans and wiping down the table while cramming some of the protein bars Mr. Stark had given him (formulated for actual Captain America’s metabolism) into his mouth. Once the kitchen was passably cleaned and he had repacked his book bag with the materials he would need for the day, Peter retreated to his room to change and go through the rest of his morning routine.

Returning to the kitchen, Peter did a quick count. He only had four of the energy drinks left to get him through the day and no time to running the ancient percolating coffee pot that sat on their counter. He packed up three of the cans and cracked open the other, guzzling down half of it as he pulled on his shoes and locked up the apartment.

* * *

“Hey man,” Peter said, finishing up the can and lobbing it into the nearest trash can as Ned approached his locker, offering the stack of flash cards back. “Thanks for letting me borrow these, you have literally saved my life.”

“No problem dude,” Ned told him. “Did you sleep at all last night?”

“I accidentally fell asleep sometime after four,” Peter told him and he opened another can and took a large sip, Ned just gave the can a dubious look.

“When was the last time you even got a full nights sleep?”

“Thursday?” Peter answered, a question because he was definitely losing track of his days. He had a lot of tests and projects due recently and things had kind of piled up on his a little. He was working on it. Honestly, hyping himself up on caffeine probably wan’t helping but how else was he supposed to stay awake?

Ned opened his mouth, probably to say something that would be one hundred percent true but also something that Peter did not want to deal with, when the first bell rang and the mass of students loitering in the hallway began the break out of their groups and move toward their classes.

Their first class being history, Ned and Peter pushed through the throng of people together in their effort to make it completely across campus before the final bell rang. Peter was able to finish off his drink in the hall, dropping it into the trash can by the door before taking his seat at the back of the class. Ned was going through his note cards one more time, all confidence from the night before gone and test anxiety clearly settling in. If Peter was grateful for one thing, it was that he was always too tired to be overly anxious before tests these days.

“‘Sup losers,” MJ said, falling gracelessly into her seat and stretching her long legs out in front of her, pencil stuck behind her ear and sketchbook in hand. “Trying to imitate a raccoon?” She asked sardonically, nodding at the purple bags under Peter’s eyes.

“Just up late studying,” Peter answered, tapping his own pencil in a staccato rhythm on his desk.

“Yeah,” MJ said, rolling her eyes. “Sure.”

Mr. Dell entered at that point, juggling the large stack of tests and his travel mug of coffee just as the final bell rang. “Hope you guys are ready,” he told them with an encouraging smile, filing down the rows and dropping the tests upside down on each students desk along with a blank scantron sheet. “You know the deal, multiple different versions, fifty multiple choice questions, three short answer and one essay. Bring them to me when you’re done and you can go to the library for the rest of the class period to work on other work. You can begin.”

Peter flipped over his test and did a quick survey of the packet; the short answer and essay questions he knew he could answer easily. With a feeling of relief, he flipped back to the front page and began answering the multiple choice. Time passed in a blur after that as he flew through the questions and spent the majority of the time on the essay. A few of his classmates finished within an hour, MJ included, and gathered their things and dropped off their tests on their way out the door. Peter finished with about ten minutes to spare and gave Mr. Dell his test, leaving Ned behind. His friend liked to agonize over his answers until the last possible minute.

Out in the hallway Peter leaned up against a set of lockers and pulled out an energy drink. He felt a little dizzy and unsteady and knew that his crash was imminent – he just had to have enough energy to make it through the day.

* * *

Six hours later, Peter stumbled through the front door of his apartment and dropped his bag on the floor. His last energy drink had run out at lunch and he had to make it through the last two periods of the day on pure willpower and spite.

“Sweetie?” May asked, looking over the back of the couch, a worried expression on her face as she took in his bedraggled form. “You okay?”

“Tired,” Peter croaked out, making his uncoordinated way over to his aunt and face planting on the couch next to her, worming his way around until his head was in her lap. He felt May let out a soft chuckle above him before her hand started running through his heir and her let out a sigh of contentment, melting into the couch.

“Long day, huh kiddo?” She asked quietly, pulling the threadbare quilt from the back of the couch and draping it over him.

“Long day,” he agreed, eyes half-lidded as he stared at the Friends marathon that was playing on the TV.

“I thought you were probably burning the candle at both ends,” May told him softly, continuing petting his hair. “Once you’re more coherent you and I are going to have a serious talk about the dangers of living on caffeine alone.” She told him seriously.

Peter just hummed in agreement, letting his eyes fall closed. “Love you May,” he muttered, curling up and sinking deeper into the couch cushions, energy finally crashing.

Above him, May just rolled her eyes fondly at her snoring nephew. “Love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t have a tumblr but join me over on Twitter @Hale1310 - I just set it up and I’m looking for some prompts to combine with these bingo prompts and for separate stories!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


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